FYI
/ Reminder re: Mandatory National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN)
for CRE
Reporting
Effective June 2017, all skilled nursing facilities in Wisconsin are required to use the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) for Carbapenem-Resistant
Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) reporting. Please see the Division of Public Health NHSN webpage for information including the Long-Term Care CRE surveillance
memo and resources to assist providers in enrolling and using NHSN.
All skilled nursing facilities must enroll if they have not already done so. Facilities already on NHSN must confer rights to DPH to complete the requirement (please do not enroll a second time). Less than 150 of Wisconsin’s nursing homes have enrolled in NHSN and conferred rights to DPH. Since NHSN data is confidential, DPH does not have access to the data unless the nursing home confers rights to DPH. Note that monthly data entry of the facility's denominator (resident days and admissions) is required even if a facility does not have an eligible CRE isolate.
In response to questions received regarding the consequences of failing to report CRE via NHSN, DQA notes the federal nursing home regulation for infection control requires the facility infection prevention and control program to have written standards, policies, and procedures which identify when and to whom possible incidents of communicable disease or infections should be reported. During each annual survey, surveyors will ask to see evidence demonstrating that the facility has enrolled in NHSN, conferred rights to the WI DPH and is submitting CRE numerator and denominator information.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has identified Carbapenem-Resistant
Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) as an urgent public health threat facing our nation and has provided toolkits for health care providers to use to help protect patients and prevent transmission of CRE.
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